In your musings about odd things, it may have occurred to you to wonder, if butter is basically made from the skimmings of milk, and milk is white, why is butter yellow?

When you think about butter making, it's a multi-step process, starting with cows. Cows, in the best and most natural way, eat grass and flowers which contain the yellow pigment beta-carotene, and store the pigments in their fat.

You get milk, cream, butter and other dairy foods from cows, and all (optimally) contain the fat with the beta-carotene, as well as the yellow pigment, but in different amounts. Even whole milk is mostly water; it has a little more than 3 percent fat.

Cream usually contains between 30 percent and 40 percent fat, but at least 80 percent of the butter content is saturated fat. A New York Times article explained:

"The fat globules suspended in milk or cream are surrounded by a thin membrane that, in essence, ends up hiding the beta-carotene pigment. This structure reflects light in such a way that the milk looks white … In the process, the membranes break apart and the fat globules cluster together."¹

But that's the goal, explained Elaine Khosrova, former editor of the cheese-making publication Culture, and author of "Butter: A Rich History." That's how the beta-carotene is "exposed." Separated after it's churned, what's left is butterfat, which is intensely yellow.